Forever. The word should have scared me. A week ago, it would have scared me. But standing here with Leigh in my arms, the pond quiet around us and our whole future suddenly, impossibly open before us?
Forever sounded exactly right.
We walked back to the party hand in hand, and for the first time all summer, I wasn’t counting down the days until she left.
I was counting up all the days we’d have together.
Chapter 28
LEIGH
Icouldn’t sleep.
The clock on my nightstand read 2:47 AM, and I’d been lying here for hours, staring at the ceiling, my mind racing.
Today Trace and Delaney would get married. Today would be perfect and beautiful and everything they deserved.
And the day after, my life would change completely.
Dex was thinking about moving to Blue Point Bay. We’d made the decision, we had a plan, it was happening.
So why did I still feel this knot of anxiety in my stomach?
I grabbed my phone, scrolling through messages. There was one from Wren from earlier in the evening.
Wren:So? Did you figure it out?
I typed back, even though it was almost three in the morning.
Leigh:He’s coming to Blue Point Bay after the wedding. We’re going to try and figure it out.
The response came immediately. Of course Wren was awake. She kept terrible hours.
Wren:WHAT!
Wren:He’s moving?? To here??
Wren:Tell me everything
Leigh:Can’t sleep. Can I call?
Wren:Obviously
I slipped out of bed, grabbed a sweatshirt, and crept downstairs and out to the porch. The night was clear and cool, stars visible in a way they never were in Blue Point Bay.
Wren answered on the first ring. “Okay, spill. Everything.”
And I told her. About the rehearsal dinner, about how beautiful the whole thing was, about Dex asking me to stay and me asking him to come and the whole messy conversation that followed.
“So he’s actually moving,” Wren said when I finished. “Like, really moving. Selling his business and leaving his hometown and completely upending his life.”
“Well, potentially. He’s going to visit first and then we’re going to see what he thinks.”
“For you.”
“For us,” I corrected.
“That’s... that’s huge, Leigh.”
